Adam's Heart Valve Surgery Blog – Page 12

In November… Thanks to your extraordinary support, the patient community at HeartValveSurgery.com sponsored the cardiac surgery of Baby Alfred, a courageous 8-month old boy from Nigeria, who suffered from Tetralogy of Fallot, a life-threatening form of heart valve disease.

Unfortunately, after traveling from Nigeria to Amrita Institute of Medial Sciences and Research Centre in Kerala, India, Alfred’s medical team quickly learned that his condition was much worse than expected.

Alfred Arrives at Amrita Institute in India After Traveling from Nigeria

 
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Dear Patients & Friends

On behalf of Robyn, Ethan and Bodie, I want to wish you and all those around you a safe and happy holidays!

All the best in 2022!!!
Adam

I am happy to share that 15 years ago today HeartValveSurgery.com launched.

So you know… When I posted our first blog on December 17, 2006, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. We had no plan.  We had no team. No playbook. No nothing. I simply knew that I wanted to help other patients learn from my mistakes.

 
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I am excited to announce that the Jeffrey M. Carlton Heart & Vascular Institute at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian just became the newest sponsor of HeartValveSurgery.com.

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Dear Patients and Friends,

On Thanksgiving, I am happy to share wonderful news with the HeartValveSurgery.com community!!!

Thanks to your extraordinary support, we just sponsored the life-saving heart surgery of Baby Alfred, a 7-month-old boy from Lagos, Nigeria.  Alfred was born with Tetralogy of Fallot, a dangerous, congenital heart defect that affects blood flow through the heart valves.
 

 
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[Update: Great News! The “Advances in Mitral Valve Surgery” webinar with Dr. Chikwe from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and Wendy Spector, a recent mitral valve repair patient, was a wonderful and very interactive session with over 350 patient registrations. You can now watch the webinar video playback at this link.]

I’m excited to announce that our LIVE and FREE patient education events continue this Thursday, November 11 at 6pm EST, with a special webinar, “Advances in Mitral Valve Surgery”.  The featured speakers are Dr. Joanna Chikwe, the Chair of Cardiac Surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the #3 ranked heart hospital according to U.S. News & World Report, Wendy Spector, a mitral valve patient, and me.

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A mighty “CONGRATULATIONS!!!” is going out to John Deysher, a heart valve patient from our Community.

John, who had a successful mitral valve repair surgery five years ago, just completed a coast-to-coast bike ride with Tom, his brother.  That’s right. John and Tom rode 2,600 miles across the Southern tier of the United States.  Unbelievable!!!

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I am very excited to announce that UW Medicine Heart Institute just became the newest sponsor of HeartValveSurgery.com.

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It’s one thing to be told you need heart valve surgery.

It’s another thing to be told you need a second heart surgery because your tissue valve replacement is failing ahead of schedule.

That is the exact situation that Sonny Abassi, an attorney from Vienna, Virginia, recently experienced.  According to his cardiologist… Sonny’s aortic valve replacement, which was surgically implanted six years ago, was unfortunately calcified. To mitigate the dangerous risks of aortic stenosis, Sonny needed a reoperation.

Sonny Abassi (Surgical & Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement Patient)

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The stories in our Patient Community just get better-and-better!

This time…

Rosemary and Tom Rice, a wonderful couple that has been married for 53 years, just shared their special heart surgery bond with me.

Rosemary & Tom Rice (Aortic Valve Replacement Patients)

 
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Since starting HeartValveSurgery.com in 2006, I’ve been fortunate to speak with thousands of patients about heart valve disease. 

As you might imagine, I have also had the privilege of speaking with thousands of care partners including wives, husbands, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandsons and granddaughters.

Grant (Aortic Valve Patient) & Joe Foster

 
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Wonderful News!!!  Mayo Clinic, a top-ranked heart surgery program with cardiac centers in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota, has joined the HeartValveSurgery.com community!

 
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Dear Patients and Friends,

I’m getting excellent questions about the newly announced “3rd dose” and “booster shot” of the COVID-19 vaccine. So… With the help of Dr. Craig Smith, the Surgeon-in-Chief at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, I just posted a new “Doctor Q&A” to help educate our community.

Click here to see “COVID-19 Vaccine Update: Should Heart Valve Patients Get a 3rd Dose or Booster Shot?”

Keep on tickin!
Adam

There’s no doubt about it.  What I love most about HeartValveSurgery.com is the special opportunity to meet and help patients from all over the world.

For example…  I was very fortunate to recently connect with Tom Everson from Anaheim, California.  Tom was diagnosed with aortic stenosis and an aortic aneurysm. During our exchange, Tom asked several great questions about surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR), transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), aortic root replacement, cardiac surgeons and hospitals.

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On behalf of our patient community… Many thanks to Drs. Badhwar, Chikwe, El-Hamamsy, Khan, Shemin and Stelzer for showing their wonderful support of HeartValveSurgery.com. As you can see below, each of these heart valve experts is wearing our new scrub caps around their hospitals.

Here’s Dr. Vinay Badhwar, the Executive Chair of WVU Medicine Heart & Vascular Institute in Morgantown, West Virginia.

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Together, we have seen a lot of great heart valve animations and videos over the years. I have to admit… The 3D animation of the heart beating below could be one of the best. The animation really provides a complete context of the heart beating, the heart valves opening and the heart valves closing.

The only thing missing in this animation is one of the heart valves. Can you identify the heart valve that is hidden?

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It is with a BIG smile on my face that I am posting these words.

Thanks to your support of HeartValveSurgery.com, I am happy to share that Traver just arrived home in Uganda after his complex cardiac surgery in Israel!!!  Woo-Whoo!!! Yay!!!! Mission accomplished!!!!

I just received the following pictures.  Here is Traver at home with his family in their Ugandan village.

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[July 6 Update: You can now watch or download the free eBook of “SAVR vs. TAVR: What Should Patients Know?” at this link.]

I’m excited to announce that our LIVE and FREE patient education events continue this Thursday, July 1, with a special webinar, “Surgical vs. Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement: What Should Patients Know?” Featured speakers include Dr. Charles Davidson, Professor of Cardiology, and Dr. Chris Malaisrie, Professor of Cardiac Surgery, at Northwestern Medicine. This one-hour webinar will start at 5pm CST.

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The use of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) devices for the treatment of aortic stenosis has soared in recent years.

Prior to COVID-19… TAVR devices were growing at double-digit compounded annual growth rates as sales grew to over $2 billion worldwide in 2019, according to Medical Device Network. At HeartValveSurgery.com, patient interest in educational content – exclusively about TAVR – jumped 627% across our servers from 2019 to 2020.

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I’m a bit addicted to our Peloton.

This next-gen athletic gear has completely transformed my approach to fitness. I feel great. I have more energy. Thankfully, as someone who has struggled with insomnia, I now sleep like a baby. And, I’ve unexpectedly lost 12 pounds.

One of the fun parts of riding a Peloton is when an instructor sends a live “shout-out” to a community member during class.  So far, I’ve been fortunate to score shout-outs from Robin Arzon and Jess King.

I’m happy to share that on my recent 800th ride, I got a shout-out from the one-and-only Alex Toussaint. As you may already know, Alex is an extremely motivational coach who inspires students with uplifting catch phrases (Feel Good! Look Good! Do Better!), innovative classes (e.g., the Last Dance and Ride to Greatness) and honest perspectives on the challenges we all face on a day-to-day basis.

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